The present invention relates to a fibrous insulation package; and in particular, to a fibrous insulation package containing compression wrapped resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers within a multi-section covering. Preferably, the different sections of the multi-section covering contain different information relating to the resilient fibrous insulation blanket products within the package and the different covering sections are held in place with respect to each other, at least in part, by forces exerted on the covering sections by the resilient fibrous insulation blanket products within the package.
For decades resilient fibrous insulation blankets, such as resilient glass fiber insulation blankets in the form of batts or rolls, have been compressed and packaged in unitary polymeric packaging film coverings in a compressed state to: reduce the volume of the product for storage and shipment; to reduce storage and shipping costs; and to make the product, which is light weight but bulky in an uncompressed state, easier to handle. There are a large variety of resilient glass fiber insulation blankets packaged in these unitary polymeric packaging film coverings. For example, the insulation blankets are made in different widths, e.g. nominal 15 inch and 23 inch widths; the insulation blankets may be faced or unfaced; the facings on the faced insulation blankets may be made from of foil-scrim-kraft sheets, kraft sheets or other sheets; the insulation blankets are made with different densities; the insulation blankets are made in different thicknesses; the insulation blankets are made with different thermal properties, e.g. different R-values; and the insulation blankets have different intended applications that require different installation instructions. The unitary polymeric packaging film coverings must have product related information on the coverings that indicates to the consumer or contractor the type of resilient fiber glass insulation blanket contained within a package, e.g. the intended application, faced or unfaced, thermal properties, width, thickness, density, etc. In addition to the information listed above, the unitary polymeric packaging film coverings include other information relating to the insulation blankets, such as the company name and/or logo, warranties, legal notices, addresses, coupons, 800 numbers for customer assistance, etc. With the variations in product information required for the numerous insulation blanket products typically produced and offered for sale by a fibrous insulation manufacturer, such as a glass fiber insulation manufacturer, it is not uncommon for a fibrous insulation manufacturer to require 70 to 80 or more different unitary polymeric packaging film coverings. As a result, in order to have the coverings required for different products readily available, the fibrous insulation manufacturer must dedicate a significant amount of storage space to the different coverings and have a significant investment in covering inventory. In addition, the rolls of covering, which typically weigh several hundred pounds, require time and effort to change when production is changed from one insulation blanket product to another and it would be desirable to reduce the time and/or effort required to make covering changes when insulation blanket product changes are made in a production line. Thus, there has been a long term need for an insulation package that will enable a reduction in the number of full size coverings required to package the numerous insulation blanket products produced and sold by fibrous insulation manufacturers and/or will enable packaging changes without requiring the replacement of one full size covering with another full size covering; that facilitates a relatively quick and easy change from one package to another package when there is a product change on a production line; and that is cost effective.
The fibrous insulation package of the present invention provides a solution to the problems outlined above, by providing a cost effective package that enables a reduction in the number of different full size coverings required to package the numerous insulation blanket products produced and sold by fibrous insulation manufactures; that enables packaging changes for different insulation blanket products without requiring the replacement of one full size covering with another full size covering; and that facilitates a relatively quick and easy change from one package to another package when there is a product change on a production line. The fibrous insulation package of the present invention includes a plurality of resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers in a compressed state. The resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers are enveloped within a multi-section covering with different sections of the covering having at least some information thereon relating to the resilient fibrous insulation layers within the package that is different from the information on another section of the covering. The covering sections are held in place with respect to each other at least in part by forces exerted on the covering sections by the resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers within the package.
In one embodiment of the fibrous insulation package of the present invention, the multi-section covering includes a clear outer tubular polymeric film section, formed by wrapping and sealing a sheet of clear polymeric film about the insulation being packaged while the insulation is compressed, and one or more inner banner sections. Typically, the clear outer polymeric packaging film section has information thereon generic to a plurality of different resilient fibrous insulation blanket products in a product line and a plurality of compressed resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers, e.g. glass fiber blanket layers, of the product line are enveloped within the clear outer polymeric packaging film section. One or more of the separate inner banner sections are located intermediate (between) the clear polymeric packaging film section and the plurality of compressed resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers enveloped within the clear polymeric packaging film section. Typically, the inner banner section(s) have information thereon, specific to the plurality of resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers enveloped within the clear polymeric packaging film section. The information on the inner banner section(s) is readable through the clear polymeric packaging film section and the inner banner section(s) of the package are held in place by forces exerted on the clear outer polymeric packaging film section and the inner banner section(s) by the resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers contained within the package. Thus, with this package, to reduce the number of full size coverings needed for a product line, a full size covering section can be used with generic information relating to a number of products within the product line and one or more banner sections with product specific information directed to the insulation blankets within the package can be inserted between and held in place between the full size covering section and the insulation within the package.
In another embodiment of the fibrous insulation package of the present invention, the compressed resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers, e.g. glass fiber blanket layers, are enveloped within a packaging covering that includes two or more covering sections with each covering section having information thereon relating to the resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers within the covering and with at least some of the information on one of the covering sections being different from the information printed on another of the covering sections. The tubular covering sections of the package are each formed by wrapping and sealing a sheet about the insulation being packaged while the insulation is compressed and overlay different portions of the resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers. Preferably, adjacent covering sections have overlapping edge portions that are sealed together, by forces exerted by the resilient fibrous insulation blanket layers on the covering sections, to at least retard the passage of dirt and water into the package where the dirt and water could cause damage to the product within the package. With this package, since each covering section forms only part of the covering and since each covering section can have different product related information thereon, different covering sections can be substituted for each other to form a multi-section package covering with both generic and specific product information thereon relating to any of the products in the product line and there is no need to substitute one full size covering for another full size covering when changing products on a production line.